Snapshot: Reviewing The Hollow

For Sunday’s dining review, Bryan Fitzgerald visited The Hollow Bar & Kitchen in downtown Albany, which replaced the Bayou Café about six months ago. Short version:

(I)n less than six months, new owner Mike Philip, formerly of Jillian’s, and head chef Henry Ciccone have crafted an inviting, amber-lit dining room and artisan-style menu that will wash one clean of Miller Lite-soaked memories.

Schooled at home in classic Italian cuisine by first-generation parents and later with Jim Rua at Capriccio Saratoga, Ciccone has drifted from his roots to create affordable fare that appeals to both theatergoers looking for a gastropub-esque dinner before a show at the Palace or Capital Rep and others looking to down wings and mozzarella sticks during “Monday Night Football.”

21 Responses

Beyond the Swamp? I have been affiliated with the Bayou Café for the past 19 years. Ralph and Sharlene Spillenger are close family friends. Shane Spillenger books our live music at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen and is a great friend and an important part of our team at The Hollow.

Neither my wife or I ever spoke with Bryan Fitzgerald about our business, our development or future plans . If he had, I would have thanked the Spillenger’s for their support of The Hollow Bar + Kitchen and wished them good luck on their new project in Malta.

Thanks Mike ! Shar and I were so happy for your positive review but reading the first paragraph was a punch in the stomach before I could get to the positive parts. I do feel so bad that Mr.Fitz had to endure such torture (more than once!) during The Bayou’s glory days.

The Bayou was in business for many years and despite what Mr Fitzgerald and “confused” said was a very successful business in which paid for mine and my sisters up bringing. For years downtown we struggled with our identity as a cafe as we were one of the most popular night spots in the capital region. When dealing with the volume of people we dealt with on a regular basis on the break of the jager bomb and red bull days we became commonly known as a shot and beer bar. I know many people in this area can reminisce of great times they spent there. It sounds like Mr Fitzgerald was not one of our regulars who I saw every week or in some cases every day.

We are excited for the Philips to make The Hollow a great dining establishment and I find myself craving several dishes on Henry’s menu. They made critical changes that very much reflect Mrs Philip’s great taste and Mr Philip’s unsurpassing work ethic. I love them both very much and hope they know we are not upset with them despite the title of a very positive review of The Hollow.

I do need to address a couple things. The Bayou’s draft and beer selection thanks to our General Manager at the time and now Manager of The Glenville location Barry Whitacker no one could match our beer selection. We were one of the first places in the area to have so many draft beers. At one point we had almost 100 varieties in bottle as well. We brought Abita, Dixie, Stone, Rogue, Lindemans Framboise, and now locally brewed Hebrew (originally from Brooklyn) to the capital region as well as many more. We had Rogue and Stone before I am sure Mr Fitzgerald could even legally drink I am assuming by the maturity of the review he wrote. My father Ralph worked with Decrescente and other local beer companies to build at the time one of the most complex draft sytsems in which there employees to this day tell me of the first time they installed a glycol unit at the old Bayou or the old swamp as Mr Fitzgerald put it. To say our beer selection was not well thought out was a slap in the face and just a out right lie.

Downtown Albany for years was a major destination. For years we had lines at all establishments and yes now things are very different. My fathers time in Albany had ran its course and in troubling times we gave the Philip’s our beloved business to help repay a debt we will never be able to fully as the Philips gave us so much working for us . I can only hope I can contribute to the Hollow as much as they have helped us.

I dont know why media always has to take something positive and put a negative spin on it? The tittle and comments were unnescesary but not suprising. I have spent the last 6 months building my own place in Malta called Nanola. We will very soon be open to the public and can only hope for the sucess my parents have had.

Over the last decade + it would have been all but impossible to gauge what was happening on Pearl St without checking in at the Bayou. Ralph and his crew along with McGeary’s made that section od town what it was and Ralphs decades of experience always provided exactly what downtown needed and his dedication to local music will never be forgotten by local musicians and fans alike .Years from now people will be talking about the great times and bands they saw there just like 288 Lark and JB Scotts ……

To Ralph, Charlene, and Shane: The Bayou Cafe was arguably the most popular night spot in the area for years. The title of the review or the fact that The Hollow has taken its place does not diminish that fact. I am just one of countless people who has benefited both personally and professionally from being a friend and neighbor of this very generous and decent family.

To The Philip’s, Henry, and Hollow Staff: Congratulations! The place looks great, the food is fantastic, and your approach to doing business has improved downtown in general.

While I have yet to be able to enjoy the Hollow Bar, I did spend many nights at the Bayou. Nightlife aside, the brew selection was good as was the food; I actually realized you could eat there from my first visit. I have great memories of the Bayou Cafe and of Ralph as a generous and gregarious host.
Any place that is packed to the gills with the under 40 crowd on N. Pearl is bound to have the occasional unruly patron. That is a reflection of the diverse crowd that is Albany.
I would think that a review, whether positive or not, would have the new establishment standing on it’s own ( it sounds as if the Hollow Bar does ) with no need for a backhanded swipe at the previous venue. I look forward to checking out the Hollow Bar on my next Albany visit, and washing away the opening of this review with an interesting brew.

Bayou was a great place at one time, but hasn’t been relevant on the bar scene since 2009.

The Spillengers seem really good at saying how great they are, but fail to mention that Bayou baically went bankrupt, and thier other place down there (Jillians) was a total failure. Without Phillips sinking his own money into it, they would have closed at least a year earlier.

And if it was as successful as they claim, little Ralph wouldn’t have been selling mattresses last year.

Phillips seems like he’s got the new place going in the right direction. I hope he has a lot of success. He deserves it.

It’s too bad so much of this review focuses on the past and not the present. I don’t see how the former business occupying a space is even relevent for comparison. Chalk it up to inexperience and hopefully a lesson learned. Good luck to the Phillips and the Spillingers!

I love how people hide behind fake monikers to post negative stuff. I have never been called little Ralph and my father and I have very differing opinions on a lot. We should have never took over Jillian’s. It needed millions of dollars to fund it and keep it relevant. We hoped by partnering with the former GM we could make a go of it but that did not work out. Sometimes you don’t know when to quit. Especially when you are supporting a staff of 40+ people. We did not want to see it go dark as we thought it would really hurt the downtown scene and our business down the street. We took a risk for the city of Albany that has cost us millions and yes Mike Philip helped fund the place at the end. I could have easily skated by with out selling mattresses. I did not want to suck up shifts at the Bayou after my failure as assistant GM at Jillian’s. I looked to get away from alcohol and wanted to try working in a corporate atmosphere which Sleepy’s provided. I have since decided it was not for me. Bayou in Albany was never bankrupt. The Hollows staff is comprised of mostly our employees. The transition was great at making the place more relevant. We still did bigger numbers then most places in 2009 and we never shut our doors. Who ever you are you know a lot so again thanks for taking a smack at my family as i am sure at one point you were employed by us or a fairly regular staple at one of the establishments. That straight enough talk for you?

We (myself & four coworkers) tried the Hollow for lunch a month or so back. We sat in the middle dining area & it was very clean with nice decor, lots of room between tables, no one jammed up next to you.

We all had trouble deciding what to order, as much of the menu had tasty descriptions. The service was fast, friendly, attentive (not annoyingly) & knowledgable and the food tasted fresh, delicious & a bit different. Overall, a nice lunch in a comfortable atmosphere, with more than enough time to spare for conversation in our hour lunch.

I haven’t been to The Hollow after work hours, but if it’s anywhere near my lunchtime experience, I’d imagine it would be a great time.

Now, in comparison, we went to the Bayou Cafe a couple years ago. It was eh – not horrid, not great. We sat in the farther back dining area. It was not quite clean & seemed cramped where they sat us. The waiter was nice but seemed like a stoner fill-in – didn’t remember much, randomly chuckled a lot, & forgot we were there. The food was average with pretty slow service (it caused us to be late back to the office). We never went back as a group for lunch.

I’d been to the Bayou after work for a few drinks once or twice. I had no issue — I like unpretentious bars that serve normal drinks & have a regular mixed crowd.

I have no knowledge of anyone’s name or history in either establishment & I’m not a foodie or a beer drinker. I had a great lunch at the Hollow and a bad lunch at the Bayou. I had a good time at the Bayous as a bar & no expereience with The Hollow. Take it for what it’s worth to you

I don’t know any of the owners, but all of the places mentioned (The former Bayou, The Hollow, Jillians), all offered places for local musicians/bands to play and did fantasic jobs at advertising the music. If you were ever interested in catching some good music, you knew who was playing at these venues because of the advertising on social media, newspapers, metroland, nippertown, etc.